Upper Ovation looking towards Snowdon, Rams Head, and Pico Peaks 

First Valentines Day, then Presidents Weekend, now Presidents Week...it has been a glorious run at Killington!

Friday was the last day I had a chance to make some turns; skiing with the Bagel and Ruts on our usual Friday journey around the mountain. From what I remember of it in the blur of a holiday week at Killington, it was pretty good. I stayed out from 9 till just after Noon, which is a worthy attempt at conquering the mountain when you "work for a living". Since then it has been full out at the inn, which is great.

Guests are reporting good conditions on the mountain. The very cold temperatures over the weekend, combined with winds hitting 20MPH continued to firm up the base. However, over the last couple of days temperatures have moderated just a bit, softening up ski surfaces in the process. Todays temps have just cracked 30 degrees, which, when combined with very little wind, should make for a nice ski day on the mountain.

Light snow is forecasted in the area through Thursday night. Not much mind you...in the 3 to 6 territory, but it will help refresh surfaces. Everything contributes to the cause, not the least of which is the massive amount of snow making the resort has been doing every chance they get.

With luck, I will get out for a few runs in the next few days..

Let it snow!

Mary on the upper headwall of Superstar on Wednesday 

Was it the chocolate truffles, the dozen red roses, the great card, or was it the boot heaters and a nice morning of skiing...

With Valentines Day and Presidents weekend on us, we have been busy getting the inn ready for a full complement of guests for lodging and dining. But we did get a chance to get out on the slopes together yesterday in a pre-celebration of Valentines Day.

The resort is in great shape going into Presidents week. We skied multiple trails on Bear Mountain, Skye Peak, Killington Peak, and Snowdon Peak on our 3 hour jaunt around the resort. All were covered edge to edge in a beautiful machine groomed granular snow, which is a really comfortable alternative to ski on when you don't have a bunch of champagne powder under foot.

There were some consistent trends on the mountain. The shallower terrain, like Cruise Control, have seen multiple grooming passes over the last few days, resulting in any hardpack being chewed up into fine grain crystals. Slightly steeper terrain, like Needles Eye and Middle Superstar, were very receptive to ski edges and great for side to side carving speed runs. Steep terrain, like the Superstar Headwalls, Cascade, DownDraft, East Falls, Panic Button and Lower Skylark were showing their fall lines with small undulations forming due to skier traffic. The undulations were not yet outright bumps, as temperatures on the mountain have stayed cold. But you did want to pay a little attention and pick good lines if you wanted to traverse the trails at normal speed.

Light snow is in the forecast continually the next few days. Just Mother Nature's way of giving Killington some Valentines Day Love.

Let it snow!

Needles Eye in the snow 

While our thoughts go out to those down south who are still dealing with last weekend Blizzard, Killington has barely skipped a beat.

At the inn, last week had effectively 3 Saturdays between the onslaught of people arriving at the resort on Thursday, the group of people who were here all day Friday and our normal mid-winter Saturday. From a business perspective...it is a wonderful thing.

Guests in town were decidedly skiers and riders. Where over the Christmas snow storms I needed to shuttle a half dozen guest cars up a snow covered Butler Road to reach the inn, this weekend I needed to shuttle nada. All of our guests, for the most part, were accomplished in driving in snow. I always say the "Skiers Ski!", and with states of emergency declared in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, the refugees escaping the storm were definitely skiers and riders. All wheel drive SUV's and Thule ski boxes were the weapons of choice to escape the storm. And they all made it to the mountain to ski through the storm on Friday.

On the mountain..the resort got the goods. 12 to 15 inches of snow blanketed the resort in medium weight powder. The storm was not champagne powder by any respect, but it also was not Sierra Cement. The consistency was somewhat in the middle. Trails exposed to the wind saw some wind packing and slab development. Trails protected from the wind featured nice, soft freshies, assuming, of course, you got to the trails before they were skied out.

I was on the mountain Friday, Saturday (in the line for first chair) and today. As mentioned last week, Friday was characterized as 3 to 5 inches of new snow on top of hard pack. Saturday was over a foot of new snow with the early morning race to get to your spot before anyone else could find it. Today was soft groomed cruisers. Of course, a foot of new snow does not eliminate all of the thin spots. Natural trails were pretty tracked out today. Trails with active snow making (most of the resort) are in great shape. The resort is even continuing to make snow, with snow guns going all day Sunday on Superstar.

Today, while we were at the resort, we experienced some more new snow and a very brief period of "Wintery Mix". Not enough to do any damage to the ski trails, but just enough to candy coat our goggles as we were heading down Superstar to get back to the car. The weather pattern the rest of the week looks like there will be several opportunities to add to the snow pack. And that is a great thing with Presidents Weekend on tap.

Now if we could get the governor of Massachusetts to declare on Wednesday morning that he will be shutting down the state on Thursday afternoon... Oh Boy!

Let it snow!

Ruts and the Bagel in his classic one-piece. 

Today was a great warm up day. With the lifts opening at the polite hour of 9:00 AM, and ski trails that were for the most part groomed flat yet covered with 3 to 5 inches of fluff; it was a great day for the mass of humanity to enjoy some time in the powdah.

It is hard to pick the run of the day. For the most part, everything that did not have a rope across it was skiing pretty nice. There were some parts that caused more energy to be expended, like in the bumps left over from snow making on the top of Skye Burst. There were also plenty of low energy groomed cruiser powder runs, where the fluff was just going everywhere with each high speed turn. Steeper terrain skied out early, leaving a firm hard packed surface between soft snow bumps. Shallow terrain held the powder better, and provided many with a satisfying rush to the ego as only skiing or riding in fresh snow can deliver.

Later this evening, forecasters are calling for around a foot of additional snow to fall on the Killington area. Tomorrow will be another powder day, which given the predicted snow depths, should provide plenty of challenges for the east coast skiers and riders in all of us.

A couple of items... First a Shout Out to Elliot. We met Elliot on the Needles Eye Quad. When we talked to him he was pure New York...until we found out he had transplanted to the Boston area in 1971 and now calls Sherborn Massachusetts home... Elliot - great to meet you... Enjoy the weekend at Killington with your wife and daughter.

Also, in jest..... It would not surprise me if in a couple of months time it is announced that the Vermont Ski Areas Association made a political contribution to Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. Word on the street is that all of Vermont's resorts are booming with an influx of early weekend arrivers getting out of the way of the storm from the south.

In all seriousness....it is great to see and talk to so many people who are genuinely excited about going skiing. We love living at Killington and enjoying the mountains. It is nice to see so many others who want to share the experience of being in the mountains and on the snow.

Stay safe through the storm... but...Let it snow!

We're ready. Are you??? 

Hopefully this is not a plot by the Wisconsin and California dairy farmers to empty the shelves of milk on the East Coast.

The incessant hype of the coming storm, arriving 35 years after the historic "Blizzard of 78" is a little numbing. But forecast numbers from the National Weather Service have been consistently calling for over a foot of new snow to fall in Killington (or 18 inches to 2 feet if you shop your forecast to the correct web site). It should be a great weekend to ski!

Currently in Killington we are overcast and cold, waiting the storm. Snow is predicted to start falling this evening, well after midnight, and continue thru Saturday Morning. Being a coastal storm, we will see some back up of moisture into the mountains, making the total prediction for snow fall at the Killington Resort somewhat tricky.

Our weekend guests, meanwhile, seem to be genuinely excited about being able to visit the resort during a fresh dumping. Several, whose companies have already declared tomorrow to be a "snow day" have made arrangements to arrive this evening and enjoy the falling snow on Friday. Many others have called with plans to leave at first light on Friday morning, with the hope of arriving at Killington before the brunt of the storm hits the area on Friday evening. What ever the strategy, Mary and I feel great that our guests share our excitement about skiing in fresh snow at the resort, and that they are making appropriate plans to arrive to take advantage of it.

Wherever you may be, we hope that you stay safe and get a chance to enjoy the winter wonderland that Mother Nature will be throwing at the Northeast. Keep your snow dances going, and point your feet towards Killington!

Let it snow!

Needles Eye under a full out snow making assault 

If you read yesterdays report, the report today is very similar. Take yesterdays report, add another couple of inches of light fluff falling from the sky on the mountain tops, turn on every snow gun Killington has, groom most of the trail, deeply till a few more... you get the picture... Conditions are doing nothing at Killington just getting better.

So I did not wind up just repeating yesterdays blog, I though todays post would be just some simple pictures. A lot is going on around the resort, and a picture is worth a 1000 words of course....

Work progresses to build the Superpipe at Bear Mountain.

The resort is working hard to get the Superpipe at Bear Mountain open. Snow cats have pushed huge amounts of snow into the pipe in preparation to carve it our. In todays picture, you can actually see a surveyor to the right of the frame using a laser device to check the work progress. It should be open soon I would guess.

Needles Eye receiving the full snow making treatment

Needles Eye was a blizzard today with snow guns from Panic Button all the way to the Needles Eye Quad. The trail has been a little thin the last few days. This should more than take care of that problem! Look for it to be one of the ROTD's later this week and into next week.

Mary on High Road at Bittersweet

My partner has to work into the blog somehow. This run we took "Sky Road" better know at Skylark to High Road. Snowmaking was in progress on Skylark down to the High Road junction. Lower High Road past the Snowshed quads was thin and probably will enjoy some snow love in the next couple of days.

Lower Superstar to the Umbrella Bars

Superstar is well covered. Grooming on lower Superstar has ground up the surface. It was a little irregular in places which were difficult to detect in the dim light caused by mountain snow flurries. Plenty of snow, however, to last for a long long time!

Snow flurries are constant at Killington right now, slowly adding to mountain base depths. A major storm is projected for late Friday into Saturday. Where will you be skiing and riding this weekend?

Let it snow!

Snow guns making snow on Skyeburst at Killington, February 4, 2013 

I will admit...I had trouble picking a picture for today. I had many shots of well snow covered, crowd free trails. I had a few pictures of high mountain peaks gleaming in a bright blue sky surrounded by puffy white clouds. I even had a picture of my partner Mary lining up to take one of the ramps in the Stash. But in every picture I looked at, there was one constant. Every picture had a snow gun somewhere pouring out snow. The resort is just cranking it out.

Yesterday was a casual ski day. We started from the Vail parking lot and skied right to the Rams Head lift. Header, the trail the Rams Head lift goes over, was well covered with no apparent thin spots. It was groomed flat, as one would expect for a beginner trail. The few people we saw coming down it were, for the most part, enjoying themselves...except for the lone newby who was straight lining it. From the look on their face, they probably did not know how to turn, and had barely mastered the pizza wedge concept. But this was a Monday morning, with no one on the trails, so there was little risk for a damaging collision. So it goes in the mountains sometime...

Caper over to Snowshed was firm underfoot with an inch or two of fresh powder on top. We barely turned to check our speed as we headed to Snowdon. Other than a few S turns to slow down before passing the couple of other skiers that were on Caper, the ride over to Snowdon from Rams Head was simple and quick. Normally we would follow Caper all the way to the Snowdon Quad. Lower Caper, however, was roped off. Snow guns were lined up and pumping snow down the trail from the Great Northern intersection to the lift. So we followed Great Northern briefly before making the left turn down Chute to the Snowdon Quad.

By this time we had met up with a friend and got engaged in a catch up conversation. Chute seemed well covered. The Fan Gun was going at Mousetrap as usual, building a huge pile of snow. At the top of the lift, we turned left and headed to Bunny Buster. Usually this trail is closed for race training, but as it was not roped off so we decided to take it back to the K1 Gondola. Bunny Buster was in perfect shape for edge to edge sweeping turns. I carved down Upper Bunny Buster this way until the last 100 yards or so, when I caught up with other skier traffic and resumed skiing in a lane. Mousetrap, due to the fan gun, was very well covered, with soft piles of fresh snow midway down the slope. Lower Bunny Buster running out to the K1 Gondola was flat and fast; very much like Caper, with a hard surface covered with a couple inches of fluff.

Off the K1 Gondola we traversed across Launch Pad to Skyelark to High Road to the Skyship mid station at Needles Eye. The traverse was well covered, as was Skyelark. High Road from the Snowshed crossover to Needles Eye was thin in places, especially on skiers right. But as the slope was basically empty of people, avoiding obstacles was not an issue anywhere along the traverse across the top of the mountain.

Coming back up the Skyship, we decided to try our luck on Cruise Control. I took the scenic route around the Vista Deck. This area was well covered until the final turn leading to Cruise Control which was fairly bullet proof. My skis are well tuned, so I did not skip a beat, but beginners in this trail section would need to hold it together for 50 yards or so to avoid any carnage. Cruise Control itself was in good shape. Flat and Fast as usual. Sweeping turns from skiers left to the middle of the trail, as the right side is still a little thin.

After another trip up the Skyeship, we decided to try our hand at Dreammaker. A traverse across the top of Skye Peak was required, with a couple of turns in places to avoid snow guns and roped off sections. I was in front of everyone a little too far. I passed a thin cover sign on one of the turns, knowing from Friday that this particular trail section was well covered and it was referring to another trail section further down the mountain. But this stopped the group behind me in their tracks. They proceeded down Great Eastern while I skied under the guns on Skye Peak into Dreammaker. Middle Dreammaker is thinly covered from the trail middle to skiers Left. The terrain park on Lower Dreammaker was beautiful, with nice rolling groomers covered with multiple inches of fluff. I would guess that since the freeze cycle last week that the resort has not groomed Dreammaker, knowing that the rock solid base would not bump up, while the soft fluff would accumulate and soften up the overall trail.

From the Skye Peak Express Quad, we headed out towards the Stash. Similar to Dreammaker, it featured firm underfoot with multiple inches of fluff. Minimal effort was required until the intersection with Skyeburst, where speed checks were required to be polite to other skiers on the mountain. Lower Skyeburst was a little scratchy. Snow Groomers were working to move the pile of snow from under the Fan Gun to build the Superpipe on Lower Dreammaker. Over the last couple of days they moved virtually the whole pile into the pipe to begin the process of carving it out. I would guess it would be open this weekend, but I have not heard anything official yet from the resort on when it will be available for people to ride.

We did a few more laps off the Skye Peak Quad before calling it a day. I decided to take Superstar as my last run before heading to the car. The traverse across an unnamed trail section at the bottom of Skye Hawk was interesting, as the resort has had a couple of snow guns mounding snow. I skied on top of one of the mounds and found myself about 20 feet in the air. I though the mound would be rounded, but the wind had made the back side rather abrupt, so I did the right thing and reversed my path to ski around it. It would have been fun to get some big air... but with my exoskeleton on my left knee reminding me to be good, I though better of it.

Superstar has an amazing amount of snow on it. Middle Superstar is set up with huge snow whales. I rode down skiers left. The sensation is very much like a quarter pipe, with constant up and down swells with turns at the top and bottom. Lower Superstar was machine groomed loose granular. I did run into a couple of small bumps which had small ice patches on their downhill sides. But after all...it is Lower Superstar and you should expect this stuff.

Temperatures overnight fell below zero once again, allowing the resort to continue to make snow efficiently across the mountains. And with light snow in the forecast for Wednesday and more expected on Friday, conditions at Killington should only get better.

Let it snow!